Ruben R. "RJ" Nembhard Jr. (born March 22, 1999) is an American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player for the

Capital City Go-Go The Capital City Go-Go is an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Washington, D.C., and are affiliated with the Washington Wizards. The Go-Go play their home games at the St. Elizabeths East Entertainment and Sports ...

of the

NBA G League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official List of developmental and minor sports leagues, minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development ...

. He played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for the

TCU Horned Frogs The TCU Horned Frogs are the athletic teams that represent Texas Christian University. The 18 varsity teams participate in NCAA Division I and in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) for football, competing mostly in the Big 12 Conference. The sc ...

Early life and high school career

Nembhard grew up playing

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

and started playing basketball at age 10. He attended

Keller High School Keller High School is a public high school located in the city of Keller, Texas and is served by the Keller Independent School District. The school educates students in the majority of the city of Keller, western Southlake, northwestern Colleyvi ...

Keller, Texas Keller is a city in Tarrant County, Texas, in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. According to the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the city's population is 45,776, making Keller the List of municipalities in Texas, 71st most populated cit ...

. Nembhard averaged 21 points as a junior, earning District 5-6A MVP honors. In his senior season, he averaged 25.7 points, 6.5 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game. Nembhard was named ''

Star-Telegram The ''Fort Worth Star-Telegram'' is an American daily newspaper serving Fort Worth and Tarrant County, the western half of the North Texas area known as the Metroplex. It is owned by The McClatchy Company. History In May 1905, Amon G. Carter acc ...

'' Super Team Player of the Year and District 3-6A MVP. A four-star

recruit __NOTOC__ Recruit can refer to: Military * Military recruitment * Recruit training, in the military * '' Rekrut'' (English: Recruit), a military recruit or low rank in German-speaking countries * Seaman recruit Books *''Le Réquisitionnaire'' (E ...

, he committed to playing college basketball for

TCU TCU may stand for: Education * Tanzania Commission for Universities, regulatory body for Universities in Tanzania * Texas Christian University, a private university in Fort Worth, Texas ** TCU Horned Frogs, the athletic programs of the school * Tok ...

over offers from

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

Kansas State Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public instit ...

and Baylor.

College career

Nembhard

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

his first season at TCU after receiving limited playing time through six games and suffering a knee injury. As a freshman, he came off the bench, averaging 4.4 points and 2.1 rebounds per game. On January 4, 2020, he scored a career-high 31 points in an 81–79 overtime win over

Iowa State Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the n ...

. As a sophomore, Nembhard averaged 12.1 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game. As a junior, he averaged 15.7 points, 4.3 rebounds and four assists per game, earning Third Team All-

Big 12 The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its fo ...

honors. On March 29, 2021, Nembhard declared for the

2021 NBA draft The 2021 NBA draft, the 75th edition of the National Basketball Association's annual draft, was held on July 29, 2021, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. With the first overall pick, the Detroit Pistons selected Cade Cunningham. The NBA us ...

while maintaining his college eligibility. He later decided to remain in the draft.

Professional career

Cleveland Cavaliers (2021–2022)

After going undrafted in the

, Nembhard joined the

Miami Heat The Miami Heat are an American professional basketball team based in Miami. The Heat compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern Conference Southeast Division (NBA), Southe ...

for the

2021 NBA Summer League The 2021 NBA Summer League was an off-season competition held by the National Basketball Association (NBA) at the Thomas and Mack Center and Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas, Nevada on the campus of University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The summer league cons ...

. On September 27, 2021, he signed with the

Cleveland Cavaliers The Cleveland Cavaliers (often referred to as the Cavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland. The Cavaliers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Ea ...

. On October 16, his deal was converted to a

two-way contract A two-way contract is a professional sports contract that stipulates that an athlete's salary is dependent upon the league in which the athlete is assigned to play. This is opposed to a one-way contract that would pay the same salary regardless of ...

with the

Cleveland Charge The Cleveland Charge are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Cleveland, Ohio, and are affiliated with the Cleveland Cavaliers. The team plays its home games at the Wolstein Center in downtown Cleveland. The fra ...

of the

. On March 31, 2022, he signed a standard contract with the Cavaliers. On April 7, he was waived by the Cavaliers and three days later, he signed another

with the

Motor City Cruise (2022)

On November 9, 2022, the

Motor City Cruise The Motor City Cruise are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Detroit, Michigan, and are affiliated with the Detroit Pistons. The Cruise play their home games at Wayne State Fieldhouse. The franchise began play a ...

announced via their

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

account that they had acquired Nembhard.

UNAHOTELS Reggio Emilia (2022–2023)

On December 12, 2022, Nembhard signed with UNAHOTELS Reggio Emilia of the

Lega Basket Serie A The Lega Basket Serie A (LBA) is a professional men's club basketball league that has been organised in Italy since 1920. Serie A is organised by Lega Basket, which is regulated by the Italian Basketball Federation (FIP). It is the highest-tier le ...

Fos Provence Basket (2023)

On January 19, 2023, Nembhard signed with

Fos Provence Basket Fos Provence Basket, also known as Fos-sur-mer, is a professional basketball team based in Fos-sur-mer, France. The team currently plays in the first tier LNB Pro A, after its promotion in the 2020–21 season. Home games are played in the Complex ...

of the

LNB Pro A The LNB Pro A, currently known for sponsorship reasons as Betclic Élite, is the top-tier men's professional basketball league in France. The competition has existed since 1921. Since 1987, the Ligue Nationale de Basket has governed the league. ...

Filou Oostende (2023)

On September 9, 2023, Nembhard signed with

Filou Oostende Basketball Club Oostende, for sponsorship reasons Filou Oostende, is a Belgian professional basketball team. The club is based in Ostend and was founded in 1970. The club competes domestically in the BNXT League and internationally in the Baske ...

of the

BNXT League The BNXT League, for sponsorship reasons the betFirst BNXT League, is a professional basketball league in Belgium and the Netherlands. The league is the first tier in both the Dutch and Belgian system, replacing the Dutch Basketball League, DBL a ...

, but was released on November 19.

Capital City Go-Go (2024–present)

On March 22, 2024, Nembhard joined the

Career statistics

NBA

, - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

, 14 , , 0 , , 4.5 , , .333 , , .000 , , .750 , , .5 , , .9 , , .1 , , .0 , , 1.1 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 14 , , 0 , , 4.5 , , .333 , , .000 , , .750 , , .5 , , .9 , , .1 , , .0 , , 1.1

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , style="text-align:left;",

, 6 , , 0 , , 5.5 , , .286 , , .000 , , .250 , , 1.0 , , .8 , , .0 , , .2 , , 1.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;",

, 36 , , 8 , , 17.2 , , .351 , , .299 , , .615 , , 2.1 , , .9 , , .5 , , .4 , , 4.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;",

, 29 , , 28 , , 32.1 , , .366 , , .313 , , .740 , , 3.8 , , 3.5 , , 1.0 , , .2 , , 12.1 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 24 , , 24 , , 34.9 , , .400 , , .339 , , .778 , , 4.3 , , 4.0 , , 1.1 , , .2 , , 15.7 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 95 , , 60 , , 25.5 , , .375 , , .314 , , .724 , , 3.1 , , 2.5 , , .8 , , .3 , , 9.4

Personal life

Son of Ruben & Terri Nembhard. Nembhard's father,

Ruben Reuben or Reuven is a Biblical male first name from Hebrew רְאוּבֵן (Re'uven), meaning "behold, a son". In the Bible, Reuben was the firstborn son of Jacob. Variants include Rúben in European Portuguese; Rubens in Brazilian Portuguese ...

, played one season in the NBA/15 seasons overseas and works as a trainer and skills development coach. His grandfather,

Joe Beauchamp Joseph Scott Beauchamp (April 11, 1944May 20, 2020) was an American professional football player who was a defensive back for the San Diego Chargers. He played college football at Iowa State University before playing professionally for the Charg ...

played ten seasons as a defensive back with the San Diego Chargers and his sister, Jayden, plays

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

fo
Long Beach State

References

External links

TCU Horned Frogs bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nembhard, RJ 1999 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Belgium American expatriate basketball people in France American expatriate basketball people in Italy American men's basketball players Basketball players from Tarrant County, Texas BC Oostende players Capital City Go-Go players Cleveland Cavaliers players Cleveland Charge players Fos Provence Basket players Lega Basket Serie A players Motor City Cruise players Pallacanestro Reggiana players People from Keller, Texas Point guards Shooting guards TCU Horned Frogs men's basketball players Undrafted NBA players